The Verb

Feb 23 2025 254 ep. 45 mins 6.1k

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Radio 3's cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance

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Rebecca Watts, Brian Bilston, Cristina Rivera Garza, Deryn Rees-Jones

Feb 23 2025 41 mins

Rebecca Watts has just published her third poetry collection - The Face In The Well. She discusses writing poems that engage with the work of an earlier generation of poets, turning a cherished childhood memory into poetry, and Emily Brontë's love of ironing. Poet and writer Brian Bilston is as much a fan of the American writer, artist, and designer Edward Gorey as The Verb. He

George Szirtes, Cecilia Knapp, Lisa Knapp, Gerry Diver, Rishi Dastidar

Feb 16 2025 42 mins

Ian McMillan's guests are George Szirtes, Cecilia Knapp, Lisa Knapp, Gerry Diver and Rishi Dastidar.The beauty of a swimming pool seen from the air, banks that fly up and out of small towns never to return, the poetry of single objects seen from a train window, and the miniature brilliance of poetry pamphlets - all in this week's edition of The Verb. It can be a shock when banks le

Don Paterson, Zena Edwards, John McAuliffe on Michael Longley

Feb 09 2025 42 mins

The beauty of flower names, time-thieving hedgehogs, the poetry of fertile earth, and the absurdity of English spelling - all appear in The Verb this week. Ian McMillan's guests are the poets Don Paterson, Zena Edwards, and John McAuliffe who's celebrating fellow poet Michael Longley - and we also hear a new 'eartoon' on the origin of words for numbers, by Stagedoor Johnny ( Richar

Reeta Chakrabarti, Fred D'Aguiar, Ella Frears, Edward Wilson-Lee

Feb 02 2025 41 mins

Flames and poetry - what poetry tell us about the Los Angeles fires, the pleasure the poet John Keats took in reading - a poem-letter to an imaginary estate agent, and magical language. To explore all this McMillan is joined by poetry writers and poetry lovers.Ian's guests: BBC newsreader and journalist Reeta Chakrabarti is a trustee of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. She

Joelle Taylor, Anthony Joseph, Luke Wright, Accents

Jan 26 2025 41 mins

How does it feel to be adopted? How does naming things affect experience? Why does a mysterious sound make Ian want to get out of the studio in Salford? Is it ever a good idea to pretend to have a particular accent? Poems, questions and much more - on this week's Verb.Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Anthony Joseph, Luke Wright, and sociolinguist Rob Drummond.Joelle T

TS Eliot Prize Readings - highlights of a year in poetry

Jan 19 2025 41 mins

Ian McMillan presents highlights from the TS Eliot Prize Readings - extraordinary poetry from 2024.Poetry books featured :Raymond Antrobus 'Signs, Music' (Picador Poetry) Hannah Copley 'Lapwing' (Pavilion Poetry) Helen Farish 'The Penny Dropping' (Bloodaxe Books) Peter Gizzi 'Fierce Elegy' (Penguin Poetry) Gustav Parker Hibbett 'High Jump as Icarus Story' (Banshee Press) Rachel Man

Richard Dawkins, Gwyneth Lewis, Kate Fox, Eartoon

Jan 12 2025 41 mins

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins tells Ian McMillan about the influence of poetry on his writing, and shares poems written by his own mother. Ian also explores the influence of a very competitive mother on the life and poetry of former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis. And as it's the first Verb of the year, stand-up poet Kate Fox suggests new names for all the calendar m

The Morecambe Poetry Festival

Jan 03 2025 57 mins

The Morecambe Poetry festival hosts Ian McMillan and the Verb at the Morecambe Winter Gardens, for a special recording with poets Pam Ayres, Raymond Antrobus and Henry Normal, three performers much- loved by audiences.Pam Ayres takes us back to the beginning of her career with the first poem she ever performed live whilst working for the Royal Air Force. This preceded her memorable

A special recording of The AdVerb at The Hackney Empire

Dec 27 2024 62 mins

A special recording of The AdVerb at The Hackney Empire . Ian McMillan introduces six unique collaborations - new commissions between poets composers and musicians in collaboration with BBC Contains Strong Language and the BBC Symphony Orchestra Poets from the East End of London team up with composers to make new pieces that tell stories of this part of the capital city in all its

Isy Suttie, Pascale Petit, Deryn Rees Jones, Alan Connor

Nov 03 2024 42 mins

Ian McMillan is joined by four guests for more poetry and performance . After a year characterised by wet weather, Alan Connor constructs a poem from 188 Words for Rain collected on travels around the country for his new book with that title. Comedian and writer Isy Suttie treats us to a new song written with the approaching Bonfire Night in mind, but the fireworks in the studio do